


In the Absence of Light

by Scriven



Series: Along Crept the Dark [2]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Gen, Loss of Innocence, Personal Growth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 22:26:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16774123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scriven/pseuds/Scriven
Summary: Prophecy has a funny way of being ambiguous. It was simple enough, defeat the tyrant king and seal the fountain. Sure it was a gamble on what would happen next but the prophecy declared them Heroes, spoke of victory for doing this duty so it could hardly turn out badly, right?The Heroes never would have expected there would be consequences.The Heroes never would have thought that things could be much worse.





	In the Absence of Light

**Author's Note:**

> Another day like any other, only now with the promise of a new life lingering in the air.

Sunlight hovered gently into the quiet room. Thin covers danced small movements over their skin as they shifted, an intimate lover promising safety in the warm morning. Scattered bits of junk sat watching upon previously barren shelves, spread out in a cute attempt to increase their presence. Sadly it paled in comparison to the frankly overcrowded display gathering dust on the other side of the room. Eyelids creaking open, Kris propped their upper body against the backboard of the bed.

Lazy flashes of memory dragged across the mind. Purple scales, fluffy boys and a tyrant on a tower vaguely lingered from yesterday. Darkness broken by pulses of red stole away those world-changing adventures. For a time, they sat there staring into the cold empty cage that sparkled slightly where it remained uncovered by the small blanket tossed over it in haste. Each breath came faster, hands clammy and clutched tightly to the bed cover, terrible thoughts spinning off into horrible possibilities. Pleasant memories rocked free to be replaced by the last hours of the light when _it_ was torn out. The living nightmare.

Heat built fast in their chest, moving out from their centre to touch every part of them. Just as the moon passes back the sky to the sun, the breath-stealing horrors of the night wilted under the strength of familiar faces. Kris thought of their newfound friends in perfect clarity, the freshly baked pies and motherly hugs, the hot cocoa shared in less lonely times and the family as it was when it was whole. Their stress and terror faded as did the warmth that had sparked within their chest.

Any other person may have been happy to be rid of distasteful thoughts so quickly but Kris saw it as strange. Not the first time that they had woken to such negative emotions but the speed at which it left them was odd. Usually, it would take hours for it to stop, maybe even a dozen quiet tears to drown them out. It was as if this time, someone else had simply ripped them out. One last deep breath and the concern was put away for later, something more pressing was weighing on them.

Sunlight. Birds singing, orange colour painting the room to reflect off the tacky stars adhered to parts of the ceiling. It was morning.

For the first time in months, Kris sprung out of bed. Their mother hadn’t woken them up for school so it could still be early, they thought. Unless she had already done so several times and since given up. Either way, they made a sprint to the clothes drawer, three days of wearing the same clothes left them smelling rank. Rotten clothes and missed school were far from alien to Kris but something from yesterday’s journey had given them a crumb of resolve to start being more invested. Not to mention that the only known portal to the darkner land was in the school, a fact Kris tried to pretend wasn’t the bigger reason for showing up.

Redressed and sprayed thoroughly with a half-empty aftershave bottle, they headed to the living room. Toriel was absent, a good sign of her having left already. Finding the time on the clock to be a quarter to nine Kris practically charged out the front door, foregoing a shower in favour of speed. 

Dying leaves peppered across stone paths as far as could be seen, crunching noisily underfoot. Down they sped towards the town proper, their lungs burning in exertion, passing several neighbors that waved them on. A few even got a strangled response, broken as it was by the wild sprint. Heart pounding, face a ripe red, they realized they were smiling hard. A glimpse of memory sprung upon them as they passed the long route down towards the ominous metal doors that lay decrepit just inside the town's boundaries.

Auburn trees closed ranks around the final turn, lining the road up and past the school. For once the small size of the town had been a blessing, the school seemed practically inactive. Hope swelled, maybe they’d been fast enough to beat the others even. Everyone save for the purple tormentor loitering around the front door.

Slowing to a less desperate walking pace Kris headed towards them. Upon closing in Susie took notice of their presence, letting a little grin tug the corners of her mouth. Though it lasted for hardly a second, Susie having replaced it with a casual disinterest, Kris’s smile grew stronger.

“You that happy to see me huh?” Adrenaline still swam around their body, keeping their mood high regardless of the Jab. Susie clasped them on the back, forcing a small stumble.

“Nah, I get it. I ran here too” Evidently, the blood rush to the head was still visible in Kris’s face. Kris quietly cursed their own biology for betraying them. Susie may have done so as well, at the close distance they shared they noticed how her breathing was coming down from a rapid pace.

“Bet those other chumps will be shocked to see we totally beat them here” Susie addressed the front door, claws scratched on dark wood as she attempted to move it. To her irritation it held fast. Another several rough attempts were given to gain access until it was too embarrassing to continue trying. 

“Hey! You locked us out dammit” One, two, three knuckled taps assaulted the door. Prying themselves away from Susie’s pleas for entrance, Kris started to take note of some key evidence. Toriel’s car was absent, no lights shone out of the windows and the place was as silent as the dead. Freezing up mid-knock, realization struck Susie with Kris quickly following behind, putting together the answer of the mounting evidence. A short curse bounded off the door; Susie remained facing it as she aired the answer they collectively shared.

“It’s Saturday”

For the month that followed, they’d quietly wish in the late hours of the night that they had stopped there that day.

**Author's Note:**

> So having read through some wonderful stories already on here I came to desire to write something a little larger in scope, ignoring the fact that it currently is shorter than the other two works I uploaded, thus I have started this little project. Occurring the day after the first chapter of the game the story is focussed around expanding on the result of the characters actions in the dark world. 
> 
> On the side, I'm pretty excited to write a multi-chapter piece, even have it roughly planned out across the chapters too.


End file.
